Sabres and Penguins to play outdoors on Jan. 1

by ryan | December 25, 2007 at 03:47 pm

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I've never played on an outdoor rink - Vancouver is just too warm. But the heritage of hockey is tied to the outdoor rink, even for a west coast kid like me growing up reading The Hockey Sweater and hearing stories of Wayne Gretzky practicing in his yard until the wee hours of the morning. As I write this, I remember one very cold winter day taking the sprinkler out in the back yard and trying to get it to freeze...to no luck and I just had to wait until my next ice time in the rink. This New Year, however, will be the chance for "Sid the Kid" to show what he's got under the sky.

Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins will face Buffalo on New Year's Day in the first outdoor NHL game in the United States. It will be the second time the league staged such an event in the regular season, coming more than four years after the Montreal Canadiens faced the Oilers outside on a frigid November day in Edmonton.

The forecast for New Year’s Day in Buffalo calls for “rain/snow showers” with a high of 36 F. Forget about Sidney Crosby, the first star of the N.H.L.’s Winter Classic between the Penguins and Sabres will be the weather forecaster.